In recent years, people have been in pursuit of more and more comfort in daily life, and deodorant materials have attracted attention accordingly.
For example, a modified cellulose fiber obtained by graft-copolymerizing a cellulose fiber such as a cotton fiber with methacrylic acid is known as a deodorant material having an excellent capability of removing a foul odor such as an ammonia odor and a urine odor (for example, see JP-A-6-184941). As our society is aging, there is a growing demand for deodorizing capabilities, in particular, a capability of removing a distinctive body odor of the middle-aged and elderly. The distinctive body odor of the middle-aged and elderly is generally considered to consist of the following odor components: ammonia, acetic acid, isovaleric acid, and nonenal. According to evaluation criteria in “the Certification Criteria of Deodorant-finished Textiles” established by Japan Textile Evaluation Technology Council (JTETC), in order to remove the distinctive body odor of the middle-aged and elderly, it is required for a deodorant material to have a function of decreasing all the odor components: ammonia, acetic acid, isovaleric acid, and nonenal.
Various attempts have been made in order to obtain a deodorant material having various kinds of deodorizing capabilities. For example, a fabric knitted from a raw fiber to which a photo-catalytic titanium oxide is attached (for example, see JP-A-2002-030552) and a method of finishing a fabric product by immersing the product in a treatment solution containing a photocatalyst (for example, see JP-A-2007-126764) are known.
As far as the applicants know, however, no deodorant material having an excellent capability of removing the odor of nonenal or the distinctive body odor of the middle-aged and elderly has yet been reported.